Death of the Snake King

But things had come to this. Further thought was useless; they could only stake everything on a fight.

The two Ironwood Guards charged forward, wreathed in yellow light, their heavy, black iron-clad fists smashing toward the Snake King as before.

Lu Zhao moved. The deep-blue water curtain of the Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield flowed around him, enclosing him tightly.

He poured magical power into the Hundred Waters Dharma Disc. With a soft hum, three deep-blue ice cones condensed from the disc, radiating biting cold and chilling murderous intent.

"Go," he commanded in a low voice.

The three deep-blue ice cones shot toward the Snake King like a gale.

"Hiss!"

The Snake King hissed. Its fifty-foot-long body moved like a phantom, evading the ice cones in an instant and lunging toward Lu Zhao.

Just then, the two puppets intercepted it a step ahead, forcibly blocking its assault.

The clash of metal was deafening. As the Snake King lunged at a puppet, the latter swung its right arm across its body, placing its black iron armor before it as earthen-yellow spirit runes flashed wildly.

At the instant of impact, the puppet's spiritual glow shattered like porcelain, light bursting in all directions as the entire puppet was knocked several steps back!

"Hold it down with everything you have."

Lu Zhao poured his divine sense into the Puppet Cores like a surging tide, issuing another command.

The spirit runes on the two Ironwood Guards flared again. Earthen-yellow light erupted as though ablaze as they advanced, swinging both arms like heavy hammers to pin down the Snake King's assault.

Liu Fengchun seized the opening. Green radiance surged from the Snake-Head Staff in his hand as he struck straight at the Snake King's skull.

Lu Zhao activated the Hundred Waters Dharma Disc again. Its vortex spun rapidly, and three more deep-blue ice cones emerged, aimed directly at the Snake King's vital spot seven inches below its head.

Working in tacit harmony, the two adopted, without consulting each other, the same tactics they had used to kill the other Snake King.

Just as the ice cones were about to strike, the spiritual glow over the Snake King's body flickered erratically, and its figure actually vanished into thin air!

"Not good! This beast can use its innate spell again!"

Both were startled at the sight.

He immediately recalled the records in the ancient texts: although innate spells consumed enormous amounts of energy and Demonic Beasts rarely used them repeatedly within a short time, this Black-Scaled Snake King was clearly unlike ordinary specimens. Demonic Beast symbiosis was truly no simple matter.

A moment later, several hundred feet away, a huge serpentine shadow emerged from underground.

During the fierce battle just now, Yin Jiu had already crept silently to Green Vine's side.

With a corner of his mask broken and his figure disheveled, he formed seals with both hands. A sweet, bloody vapor spilled from the mouth of an earthenware jar, and dozens of Red Centipedes crawled out.

Each was as thick as an infant's arm, its scarlet fangs gleaming coldly, a chilling sight.

With a twitch of Yin Jiu's fingers, the Red Centipedes' abdominal legs scuttled rapidly as they lunged at Green Vine, attempting to cling all over its body.

Although Green Vine was born with extraordinary powers, it was ultimately only a young plant. All it could do now was flail its secondary vines, desperately resisting.

"Splat!" A secondary vine lashed a Red Centipede to pieces, sending it falling to the ground.

But more Red Centipedes had already climbed onto its body. Green Vine hurriedly secreted wood poison, attempting to poison the venomous insects.

Unfortunately, the Red Centipedes were themselves venomous creatures. Although the wood poison affected them, it could only slow their movements.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, dozens of Red Centipedes raised their scissor-like fangs and savagely tore into Green Vine's main stem and secondary vines.

Fiery-red venom seeped into its body through the wounds. Green Vine's movements gradually grew sluggish, its secondary vines waving more and more slowly, as though it were about to become completely paralyzed.

Sensing something wrong, the Snake King broke free of its restraints and snapped at Yin Jiu, its bloody maw gaping wide, its fangs menacing.

At the sight, Yin Jiu instinctively cast a spell. Red light flashed, and he retreated over a hundred feet, his speed seemingly little inferior to the Snake King's.

Seeing its strike miss, the Snake King did not pursue him. Instead, it lashed its tail, rapidly swatting the Red Centipedes on Green Vine, often hitting several with a single sweep.

In mere moments, a dozen or so Red Centipedes had been smashed into pulp. Seeing their fellows die, the remaining Red Centipedes not only refused to retreat but became even more frenzied, with some abandoning their attacks on Green Vine.

Opening their great paired fangs, they began attacking the Snake King. The fiercest among them even tried to leap onto its body.

Having pulled back, Yin Jiu saw this scene, and a rare, twisted expression appeared on his habitually rigid face.

"Damn it! Damn it! I'll swallow you alive, you beast!"

His voice roared, hoarse as torn cloth.

Despite his words, his hands did not remain idle. He immediately began casting a spell, and a streak of blood-red light flashed.

The Red Centipedes abandoned their attacks on the Snake King and Green Vine, scattering in all directions.

By then, Lu Zhao and Liu Fengchun had also arrived.

"Green Vine has been struck by my Blood-Burning Fire Poison. It won't be able to help this beast for a while."

Yin Jiu spoke in a raspy voice, his expression grim.

At the sight, Lu Zhao and Liu Fengchun exchanged a meaningful glance.

The two Ironwood Guards stepped forward first. Earthen-yellow spiritual light enveloped their entire bodies again as they charged at the Snake King from either side, smashing their black iron-clad arms toward its head.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhao poured magical power furiously into the Hundred Waters Dharma Disc. With an explosive boom, five deep-blue ice cones condensed on its surface. They were somewhat larger than usual-the result of his driving the disc at full power.

His greater-mastery Ice Cone Art, fully amplified by the disc, was no less powerful than an all-out strike from a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator wielding a mid-grade magical artifact.

With a series of whistles, the five ice cones, though launched later, arrived first, shooting toward the Snake King.

The Snake King stood firmly in front of Green Vine. It opened its great maw and spewed a dense cloud of greenish-black poisonous mist toward the ice cones, trying to intercept them.

But these ice cones were unlike the previous ones. They pierced through the poisonous mist, their speed only slightly reduced.

The Snake King no longer dodged. It lashed its tail to meet the ice cones.

Cracks rang out one after another as the ice cones collided violently with the snake's tail.

Although not all of them pierced through, one drove deep into the Snake King's tail, making it howl incessantly in pain and writhe violently.

Though that exchange seemed to have lasted a long time, it had taken only a brief instant. The two puppets finally reached the Snake King, raising their fists and smashing them down.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four clashes of metal against snake scales rang out, and the Snake King was sent flying backward.

Liu Fengchun saw his chance. He swung the Snake-Head Staff, Wind-Splitting Green Radiance surging along it. With a single blow and a crack, he broke the Snake King's spine.

Lu Zhao did not pause either. He swallowed a Spirit-Restoring Pill and circulated the Little Spirit Rain Art through a full cycle, rapidly recovering his magical power.

Five more ice cones emerged, then shot out.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud-five sounds of ice cones piercing flesh.

The Snake King was now an arrow at the end of its flight. Its spine was broken, and ice cones had pierced its flesh. Driven only by instinct, it could do nothing but writhe and lash wildly.

A quarter of an hour later, the puppets' iron arms and Liu Fengchun's snake staff had battered much of the Snake King's body inward, breaking its spine into several sections.

With a hiss, it finally breathed its last.

Only upon seeing the Snake King killed did they let their hearts, which had been in their throats all this time, settle.

As for Green Vine beside it, Liu Fengchun had securely bound it with a rope-shaped magical artifact.

Lu Zhao had already put the three broken vines into his Storage Bag long before.